Thunderstorm Clouts Region Winds Up To 70 Mph Reported

January 15, 1992|The Morning Call

Thousands of people throughout the region were without power for hours yesterday as a thunderstorm raged across the state, downing trees and snapping power poles and lines with winds of up to 70 mph, officials said.

Rock slides were reported on two busy Carbon County roads, and the weather sent ceiling tiles tumbling to the floor of Allen High School's gym. The school canceled a basketball game there last night.

Severe thunderstorm and tornado watches were in effect for east-central and southeastern Pennsylvania from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., but there were no reports of tornados in the area.

Jay Henry, a Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. spokesman, said winds raced up to 70 mph and beyond during the height of the storm. At Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport, wind speeds of 50-55 mph were measured about 10 a.m., said Ed Van Cott, area supervisor at the control tower.

Gusts of 90 mph in Lancaster and 87 mph in Gettysburg were reported as the storm front passed early in the morning.

Meteorologist Charles Giannetta of the National Weather Service at the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport said the winds could be classified as severe. But only 0.43 of an inch of rain fell at the airport, while 0.73 fell in Moore Township, he said.

Yesterday's high was 60 degrees at 11 a.m., but the temperature had dropped to 33 degrees by 9 p.m. and was expected to drop into the low 20s last night.

"It was an unusual day," Giannetta said. "It's not common to have 60 degrees in January ... nor is it common to have thunderstorms in January."

Giannetta said the wind today won't be so fierce as yesterday, but "it should be breezy. Winter's here with a vengeance."

About 35,000 customers in the PP&L service area were without power because of the storm, Henry said. About 11,000 of those were in the northern division, which covers Lackawanna, Carbon, Monroe and Wayne counties.

Repair crews in the Lehigh Valley were quick to return service because Mother Nature got her act together with warm, clear weather by late morning.

A power outage affecting 2,374 Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers in Lehigh Township, Northampton County, was reported at 1:16 p.m., company spokesman Jim Burns said.

High winds toppled trees, which apparently hit a main power line from the Treichlers Substation along Route 145, Burns said. He said the outage affected the Cherryville, Treichlers and Berlinsville areas. Power was restored about 3 p.m.

About 2,100 South Side Easton customers of Metropolitan Edison lost power about 10:30 a.m. Most received power through switching stations by about noon, Met Ed spokeswoman Maria Frederick said.

Schuylkill County was hit by outages about 10:30 a.m. that interrupted power to more than 7,400 PP&Lcustomers, including most of Tamaqua.

"Lightning and very strong winds caused damage to a 69,000-volt transmission line between Frackville and Lake Hauto," said Robert Behling, PP&L's Hazleton area manager. "This caused the line to shut down," and took out power to substations at Tuscarora and Greenwood and at the Atlas Powder Co. in the Clamtown area. About 7,400 customers were affected. Power was restored to much of the area before noon.

Other than the Tamaqua area, there were only minor outages in Schuylkill and Carbon counties, Behling said. "The others were widely scattered and there was no significant damage," he said.

The storm also uprooted a trailer in Washington Township between Summit Station and Pine Grove.

Stroudsburg had five trouble spots because of tree damage to power lines. Most of the 498 customers without power were back in service by noon.

About 20 customers in Clearfield lost power for a short time, Met-Ed's Frederick said.

In the Coffeetown Road section of Raubsville, 69 customers who were without electricity were back on line by about 2:30 p.m.

Wind whipped a wire loose from an insulator pole in Topton, causing a power outage for 327 customers in Maxatawny Township and areas north of Topton for about 45 minutes yesterday morning, Frederick said.

No major traffic accidents were reported in Lehigh County yesterday, but dozens of felled trees posed problems.

A utility pole on Hamilton Boulevard across from the Charcoal Drive-In was snapped off about 11 a.m., Wescosville Fire Chief William Whitehead said. The pole carried Bell Telephone and PP&L wires.

Fire police rerouted traffic for about an hour and the damage caused a local power outage, Whitehead said.

In Chapel, Berks County, a 65-foot pine tree was hit by lightning and fell onto another tree in a woman's yard, Hereford Township Fire Chief Dean Marks said.

In Carbon County there were rock slides on a number of roads, including two busy thoroughfares: Mansion House Hill between Jim Thorpe and Lehighton and Route 248 between Parryville and Bowmanstown.

Another occurred on Hazard Road, which parallels Route 248 from Palmerton to Bowmanstown.

Mud slides were reported in parts of East Penn Township.

Officials at the sewer plant in Coaldale reported a temporary loss of electric power yesterday. Also in Coaldale, there were reports of a partial collapse of a dwelling roof on 1st Street.

A tree fell across a road in Summit Hill, another one came down in the 1100 block of Center Street near Jim Thorpe High School, one on Fire Line Road in the Palmerton area and one near 408 Laurel Road in Mahoning Township.

Brief power outages and downed power lines and tree limbs were reported throughout the Easton-Slate Belt area, but the storm caused no major problems, dispatchers said.